Boston seems to be the center of the news universe these past few days. I managed to make my escape back down to Maryland late last week with about an album’s worth of new material in hand and before this “blizzard for-the-ages” is set to envelop the surrounding region. We shall see what tomorrow brings.

When I hear about Boston and blizzards I think of a photo my mother would show me when I was a kid of her pregnant and looking out a window where the snowbanks piled half-way up the door. It was February in Massachusetts and a moment captured following the historic nor’easter blizzard of 1978. She was pregnant with her third son. A few years later, to my then 6 or 7 year old eyes, this photo documented an otherwise unimaginable amount of snow and as I progressed through childhood, the Blizzard of 78 became a harrowing tale of adventure I loosely associated with my entry into the world. It wasn’t until I was an early teen that I realized every other kid my age and in my class had been a helpless, not-yet-conceived fetus during this exact same period and therefore had no more and no less of a tale of survival of extreme weather conditions than I did. (And I wasn’t born until May!) For the record, and I had to look this up of course, the Blizzard of 78 set a then-record of snowfall with 27.1 inches. This appears to have been broken recently in Boston during the massive nor’easter of 2013. Today, those always so accurate weather prognosticators are predicting a similar level of snowfall. Good luck up there.

For those who have paid closer attention perhaps, you’ll note this is the second consecutive album I’ve recorded in the Boston area and in fact at the same studio with the same engineer and producer. The recording studio, Dimension Sound Studios (http://dimensionsoundstudios.com) is located in Jamaica Plain, MA and is actually the reincarnation of a classic Boston recording facility of the same name that was open from the 1950′s to the late 1980′s. It had closed down for nearly 2 decades and remained vacant before Dan and his co-owners reimagined it. (George Thorogood tracked a few of his bigger tracks here, along with the John Lee Hooker cover “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer”)

Dan Cardinal is one of the owners of the studio and is the principle audio engineer I’ve worked with on making these last two records. Dan and I, along with producer Kimon Kirk, were just back here last week for a few days completing more material for this not-yet-named release. I left Thursday one-step closer to finalizing the rough tracks and moving on to mixing a new record.

I am grateful for all of you who have supported this Pledge Music campaign so far. We have about 1 full week remaining on this fan-and-friend funded campaign and it means the world to be able to return to the studio and spend a bit more time pulling this album together the right way, while knowing that there is demand in place and that I have your support and appreciation in making this record a success.

talk soon,

tcm

Hard to believe but this was recorded 3 years ago while Tom was in Cambridge, Maryland. The music blogDC Setlistpremiered this as part of their annual DIY Holiday song series. Tom tracked and filmed this himself. Happy holiday’s.

Pledge Music Update: Album No 3: Due to your support, we have surpassed the 20% mark on the new album and closing on 25%. We are now in Week 3 of this fan-funded campaign. Thank you to everyone that has already participated in helping make this new album.

I’m thrilled to pass along that I have begun working on a new record and I want you to join along in the process with me.

While its still very early in the project you can pre-order the album and get exclusive behind-the-scenes access over here at my project site at Pledge Music. In addition to offering the album ahead-of-time, I’m also offering up house concerts, signed posters, merchandise, previous catalogs of music and rare live tracks as well as signed CDs of the new album among other items that are available for purchase.

All of the funds driven through this campaign are going straight to the costs of making this album.

This will truly be a fan-funded album and I appreciate all the support I have already received in making this happen. We’ve just begun.

This record is currently untitled of course, other than the placeholder of Album No 3 . . as its my third solo full-length album. I say solo, but in fact I have a full-band with me in the studio once again. Many of the same folks that were featured on my last album Morning in Glen Burnie. And I have once again enlisted the production support of Kimon Kirk.

For those who were following along with me back in 2012, you’ll recognize the name Pledge Music. I partnered with them on Morning in Glen Burnie and it was a great succes, due in no small part to friends and fans alike who spread the word about this new project. I am excited to once again offer you all this behind-the-scenes access and have you join me on making this 3rd album.

Can’t wait to get back to Gypsy Sally’s in Washington DC for our show this weekend. We are playing on Saturday night and doors are at 8 PM; show starts at 9 PM. Little Pink will be opening up the evening at 9. See you soon. Tix below.

I have not had a chance to revisit a great show from earlier this month in Washington DC where I opened for the inimitable Valerie June. She put on one incredible show and as one who is often a fellow solo performer, her stage comfort and ability to keep the audience hanging on every song was a true delight to watch. I highly suggest you visit her schedule and find-out when she is traveling again and performing near you. You will be well rewarded indeed.

Sixth and I is a beautiful venue I’ve been in before but never had the chance to perform at. And wow, yeah, just a remarkable venue for a concert and one where even 800 people made it feel incredibly intimate. With an audience that was standing room only and with some incredible acoustics, it was a certain highlight of shows in 2014 for me.

While running through a quick sound-check, I was able to snap a photo of the empty room for posterity that also happened to capture the headliner hanging out in the entrance.

I had the pleasure of performing with Lisa Loeb at The Hamilton in Washington DC to a sold-out crowd over Memorial Day weekend. The Hamilton has quickly become one of my favorite venues to perform at on the East Coast and the location of the venue is pretty remarkable, about 1 city block from The White House.

A real pleasure of an evening and can’t wait to get back. Here we are after the show.

It is a true honor to pass along that my song Morning in Glen Burnie was announced among the WINNERS in the 2013 International Songwriting Competition. A link to a free download of the song is below!

ISC receives over 20,000 song submissions for the annual competition. Among the judges participating in selecting the finalists are Tom Waits, Bruce Hornsby, Bernie Taupin, Avicii, Keane, Martina McBride, Jason Isbell among many others. The song received the 2nd place, runner-up award in the Americana category.

Link

Back in late January, I rolled out of the clouds on a cold-Sunday morning and met the guys from the Red Creek Wranglers to record a few of my songs, just because. We already threw-up the lone cover song we played, Willie’s “Angel Flying . . ” and here is song #2 of 4, “When You’re All Mine.” Thanks to Don Kim for the videography and Matt Malikowski up in Boston for the audio mix. Enjoy.

When I got news that the song Morning in Glen Burnie was announced as a Finalist in the 2013 International Songwriting Competition in the Americana category, I was in the process of sending an e-mail out to some folks who were involved in the making of the album that the song had been announced as a semi-finalist in the competition. I literally had to edit the e-mail and the news within it, as new data was arriving in real time. (Perhaps a small reflection of my tardiness of sending out news to friends.) Nevertheless, it’s an honor to receive this recognition and to be included along with some incredible songwriters and musicians whose work I admire. This was a song I had been playing live for nearly 6 months before tracking it in the studio and its developed a bit of a life of its own since.